PADRES: Richard helps halt losing skid

SAN DIEGO ---- Clayton Richard played the role of a stopper Sunday afternoon. It couldn't have come at a better time for the Padres and their weary bullpen.

Richard turned in eight strong innings, Everth Cabrera was as pesky as ever in the leadoff role and the Padres snapped a five-game losing streak with a 7-1 win over the San Francisco Giants before a crowd of 28,605 at Petco Park.

"When you talk about 162 games," Padres manager Bud Black said, "it starts with the guy with the most responsibility on that (day) whether you win or lose, and that's the starting pitcher.

"He answered the bell today."

Sunday's post-game talking points, of course, didn't end with Richard.

Cameron Maybin matched a career high with four hits, Will Venable homered in a three-hit game and Cabrera drove in a pair on three hits to knock the Giants a half-game behind the Dodgers in the NL West in game that featured plenty of action outside the lines.

Home plate umpire Brian O'Nora warned both benches after back-to-back fastballs from Richard ran in on Giants first baseman Brandon Belt in the fourth ---- the latter hitting him two innings after the Padres' Carlos Quentin expressed displeasure when Giants starter Ryan Vogelsong beaned him ---- and also ejected Chase Headley after the bottom of the fourth inning when the Padres third baseman showed O'Nora exactly what he thought of the strike zone Sunday.

"I knew what I was doing," said Headley, who struck out twice and flew out to center. "... I knew I was getting ejected. When you (show the umpire how far away the pitch is) off the plate, that will usually get you out. I just felt like he needed to know how far off the plate I thought it was. I don't do with without knowing what was coming.

"Sometimes you have to stand up for yourself."

None of it distracted Richard from the task at hand: ending the Padres' second-longest losing streak of the season.

To that end, Richard (10-12) certainly did his job, scattering five hits and no walks over eight innings. He struck out one, threw 72 of his 111 pitches for strikes and allowed just one run, which was unearned after Venable misplayed Buster Posey's lazy fly that Belt cashed in with an RBI single in the second.

Vogelsong's afternoon didn't last long, and Cabrera had a lot to do with it ---- even with a strikeout to lead off the game.

Cabrera saw 13 pitches in that at-bat, seven in his next plate appearance in the second and 10 more in the fourth before leading off with a single that pushed Vogelsong's pitch count to 96 in three-plus innings. Vogelsong allowed three runs on eight hits and a walk and struck out seven and threw nearly a third of his offerings at Cabrera alone.

"That first inning, that first at-bat, from our side, that's awesome," Black said. "From Vogelsong's side and being in those shoes, it's not a great way to start the game. ... But that's what (Cabrera) needs to do.

"He has some tools to bring to our club offensively, and that's one of them ---- to be a pest."

Cabrera's teammates appreciated the effort, too, following his first lengthy at-bat with a three-run rally that Venable started with a one-out single and a stolen base. Quentin followed with an RBI single and Maybin added a two-run single to spot Richard a three-run cushion.

Four innings later, with Vogelsong out of the game, Cabrera doubled in a pair to push the Padres' lead to 6-1.

"Cabrera really set the tone with that first at-bat," Maybin said after his team banged out 16 hits, the most at Petco Park since August 2011. "I think that was the difference in the game."